Inter Milan 0, Marseille 1

Marseille win 2-0 on aggregate. A tremendous backs-to-the-wall effort from Marseille helped the French club reach the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup, as Inter's final chance of silverware from another poor season evaporated.

Marseille win 2-0 on aggregate. A tremendous backs-to-the-wall effort from Marseille helped the French club reach the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup, as Inter's final chance of silverware from another poor season evaporated.

With Fabien Barthez superb in the visitors' goal, Marseille's organisation at the San Siro frustrated their hosts, whose prospects had been hit before kick-off when Christian Vieri and Marco Materazzi declared themselves unfit to play.

A late goal from Camel Meriem put the seal on a terrific night for the visitors, sending them through 2-0 on aggregate to a last-four meeting with Newcastle United.

Marseille were without their first-leg goalscorer Didier Drogba, suspended after collecting a booking at the Stade Velodrome, but his strike meant that the French side always had a useful advantage to protect.

They did not need to throw bodies forward in attack, and Jose Anigo's side rarely did so, preferring to hit Inter on the counter.

Having dumped Liverpool out in the fourth round, Marseille now face another English club for a place in the final.

The first leg is scheduled for next Thursday and promises to be another fascinating contrast of styles, with Sir Bobby Robson's attack-minded Magpies set to pose another challenge to Marseille's hardened back-line, who have performed better in Europe than in the domestic league this season.

Inter came out for this second-leg clash will all guns blazing, but they were firing only blanks.

Striker Julio Cruz, in for the cup-tied Adriano, was prominent early on, but Barthez and his defenders just about coped with the Argentinian's nuisance factor.

Andy van der Meyde flashed a header wide from a Cruz cross, and Obafemi Martins also missed the target with an overhead kick, but otherwise Marseille were able to contain Inter in the first half-hour, with Barthez looking in supreme control.

Matias Almeyda will feel he should have opened the scoring shortly before half-time, but from close range he contrived to shoot over the bar, undoing the good build-up work of Cruz.

The second half followed a similar pattern, and Cruz was wasteful early on with an early chance when his weak shot was easily gathered by Barthez.

Inter brought on Uruguayan forward Alvaro Recoba to bolster their attack, and he was lively, but Marseille's rearguard continued to prove reliably solid.

Slowly, Marseille began having chances of their own, with substitute Steve Marlet rifling one volley over the bar when perhaps the on-loan Fulham forward should have done better.

Then came the 73rd-minute goal which silenced the Inter supporters and sent the travelling Marseille entourage into delirium.

The French side launched a rapid counter-attack after absorbing more Inter pressure, and midfielder Camel Meriem was able to run from his own half before sliding a shot past Francesco Toldo and into the net.

It was reward for Marseille's hard work at the other end of the pitch and, crucially, an away goal which meant that Inter needed three goals in the last 17 minutes.

Effectively, the match was over, and Marseille grew in confidence going forwards during the closing stages.

Inter lacked punch up front and will now turn their focus to the battle for fourth place in Serie A. They currently trail fourth-placed Parma by a point. Marseille have loftier ambitions and can now dream of their second European trophy.

The 1993 European Cup victory was somewhat tainted by what followed as the Bernard Tapie years came to a sour end, but Uefa Cup glory in 2004 would truly mark the beginning of a new era of success.